Archive for the ‘Politics’ section
Rubaramira Ruranga is the epitome of a stone-age politician
By Albert Gomes Mugumya. Sectarian politics have bedevilled this country since time immemorial. The narrow issues of religion, tribe and “it’s our turn to eat” cloud the factual issues and prevent the electorate from distinguishing between imperative issues and inconsequential ones. In FDC’s search for a new party president, sectarianism is high on one team’s [...]
50 Years of Independence.
Despite the economic, social, political and environmental challenges, the commemorative events spark both negative and positive reactions. By Michael Wandati There is no better time in a country’s history than the day they gained independence and become a sovereign state. The East African countries were colonized by Britain and Belgium. Rwanda and Burundi gained their [...]
Is Museveni losing it?
It is just over a year since Uganda held its general election of February 18, 2011. Much has happened in the 12 months that have gone by and it is appropriate to review this period. In the 1996 general election, the NRM’s candidate Yoweri Museveni was declared the winner with [...]
Army General speaks out on corruption
His office is neat. With a Tarehe Sita calendar hanging on the wall, a big table with several books including an Oxford dictionary, newspapers and a novel “Failed States” by Noam Chomsky. This is the office of the Chief of Military Doctrine of the Uganda Peoples’ Defense Forces (UPDF), Major General Pecos Kuteesa in Mbuya. [...]
Do we have a leadership gap?
Has the government lost its ability to control a crisis? When the pressure group Action for Change (A4C) and the other opposition groups announced their “Walk to Work” protests in April, many Ugandans dismissed them as poor losers. They had lost the general election, but rather than concede defeat, they were now trying to come [...]
The problem in Uganda is the economy, silly
The big story this year was supposed to be the elections, but with the economy struggling, those are a distant memory. by Timothy Kalyegira The elections were supposed to be the big story of 2011. Both local and foreign media analyzed and reported the campaigns and the actual election exhaustively. The local media ran countdowns [...]
Case against LRA’s Kwoyelo raises constitutional issues
The trial of Thomas Kwoyelo, Jospeh Kony’s former right-hand man has brought to the fore the challenges this country faces in the justice department. Kwoyelo, 39, who was allegedly abucted and forced into the LRA rebel group in 1987, according to his 75-year-old mother Lujulina Oyeka, was arrested in March 2009 in Garamba Forest in [...]
The President’s new blue-eyed girl
The challenges faced by the new management of Kampala City are enormous. But unlike the old management at City Hall, the new one has unprecedented support from the highest office. by Edward Ronald Sekyewa It was obvious that the newly appointed Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) Executive Director has President Yoweri Museveni’s goodwill to deal [...]
Taking a stand
After the ‘Seya’ controversy, I had expected to meet the new Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago in a run-down, smelly office in the basement of KCC. Instead I walked into a large, clean and well-furnished room. Actually the Lord Mayor’s office is three rooms, his office, a reception room and a spacious meeting room. Not bad [...]
HOW HARD IS “MAHOGANY?”
Once the President’s right-hand man, Gilbert Bukenya has taken a very public fall from grace as he faces charges of abuse of office in relation to the CHOGM scandal. by Timothy Kalyegira Since he was excluded from President Museveni’s new government, the former Vice President Prof. Gilbert Balibaseka Bukenya’s stars have taken a nose-dive. The [...]